Washington (AFP) – Jalen Hurts threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as Philadelphia beat the Los Angeles Rams 33-26 in a thrilling Sunday NFL battle of unbeaten teams. The defending champion Eagles sealed the win in emphatic style as defender Jordan Davis blocked Rams kicker Joshua Karty’s field goal attempt, then returned it 61 yards for a touchdown on the final play.
“We knew his angle. We knew his launch point. We just hit the gap, put our hands up at the right time and then I seen the ball on the ground,” Davis said. “I just took off from there … didn’t know I was going to make it all the way to the end zone.”
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Hurts completed 21-of-32 passes for 226 yards and ran for 40 more as the Rams squandered a 19-point lead. “It was just a matter of figuring it out,” Hurts said. “We were gritty. We stayed together as a team. We did not quit. Nobody gave up. I’m very proud of that.”
In another battle of unbeatens, Eddy Pineiro kicked a 35-yard field goal at the finish to give host San Francisco a 16-15 victory over Arizona. Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, and the Los Angeles Chargers also improved to 3-0. But Green Bay and Cincinnati suffered their first defeats, and the Kansas City Chiefs — denied a Super Bowl three-peat by Philadelphia last season — got their first victory with a 22-9 win at the New York Giants.
The Chiefs, whose bid to reach the Super Bowl for a fourth straight season already appeared to be foundering after losses to the Chargers and the Eagles, got off to another stuttering start against the Giants. But with three field goals from Harrison Butker, they had a 9-6 half-time lead, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes hit Tyquan Thornton for a touchdown to open the third quarter.
Kareem Hunt dived for a one-yard touchdown midway through the fourth, capping a drive that included a 33-yard pass from Mahomes to Thornton — who had five receptions for 71 yards. “More than anything we had to clean it up,” said Mahomes, who threw for 224 yards with one TD. “We were getting drives going, but we kept getting stopped and getting field goals instead of touchdowns. I thought the guys did a good job of cleaning it up and the defense played their tail off, kept us in the game … but we have to keep building and keep getting better.”
– Rodgers passes Favre –
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers improved to 3-0 with a 29-27 victory over the winless New York Jets. Chase McLaughlin kicked his fifth field goal as time expired for Tampa Bay, who had fallen behind 27-26 on Will McDonald’s touchdown return of a blocked field goal attempt.
Cameron Dicker kicked a 43-yard field goal on the final play to give the Chargers a 23-20 triumph over Denver and their first 3-0 start in 23 years. At Nashville, Jonathan Taylor ran for 102 yards and three touchdowns to power Indianapolis over Tennessee 41-20.
Cleveland’s Andre Szmyt kicked a 55-yard field goal as time expired to give the Browns a 13-10 upset of visiting Green Bay. At Minnesota, Carson Wentz threw for two touchdowns and Jordan Mason ran for two as the Vikings routed Cincinnati 48-10. Minnesota cornerback Isaiah Rodgers became the first player to return an interception and a fumble for touchdowns and force two fumbles in an NFL game — and he did it all in the first half.
Pittsburgh’s 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw his 509th career touchdown pass, passing former Green Bay teammate Brett Favre for fourth on the all-time list, in a 21-14 win at New England — where Rodgers had never before won.
© 2024 AFP
